TeslaCrypt first appeared in early 2015 and stood out by targeting game-related user content, such as save files and custom maps, in addition to personal documents and pictures -- 185 different file extensions in total.

The program had some moderate success in the beginning, earning its creators $76,522 in less than two months. However, in April 2015, researchers from Cisco Systems discovered a flaw in the ransomware program that allowed them to create a decryption tool for some of its variants.